Sam Attwater insists DOI romance was real

Sam Attwater insists he never faked a romance with his 'Dancing On Ice' partner.

The former 'EastEnders' actor - who has called time on his romance with skating champion Brianne Delcourt - has been accused of trying to win votes by dating the Canadian beauty, but he insists they were actually in a relationship for some time.

He said: "I went to the show bosses so they would know that we hadn't faked anything and that our priority was the show. The reports said I apologised to them for 'our sham relationship', which isn't true. I just apologised for things getting out of hand.

"I don't feel I owe anyone an apology. It was never a 'faux-mance'. It's all just a big misunderstanding."

Allegations Sam and Brianne had faked their romance came after he was pictured kissing professional skater Alexandra Schauman, but the actor insists he was joking around and got caught out unexpectedly.

He explained: "I never kissed Alex Schauman, it was a joke. We'd had a couple of drinks, and I like to play this trick on people where I act as if I'm going in for an intense kiss with them and then pull away at the last second, saying, 'That was amazing!' I've done it to Denise Welch and Chloe Madeley, too.

"I can completely understand why people might see them and then question everything else, but that photographer just happened to get that shot. As soon as I saw the pictures, Brianne and I went straight round to see Alex and her husband Lukasz and we all laughed about it!"

Sam also revealed the only reason why he ended his relationship with Brianne was because he didn't want their personal life overshadowing their work on the ITV1 show.

He added to heat magazine: "We thought the skating might get ignored among all the press about our romance, so we decided to slow down."